I was eight at that time. Ryan was a lot closer to it. But I remember the excitement that my Dad had after a couple of workouts even before the reality that he would ever become a Laker.

My Dad became obsessed with finding a way to get this done. He started at the top of the draft and then went all the way trying to find something that could work. It didn’t happen until the 13 pick. There were some roadblocks along the way that they navigated around, and Kobe made it to 13.”essentiallysports.comThis article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: During your childhood, what do you recall Jerry (West) …